1984
There is A Tide in The Affairs of Men
Lord INDARJIT SINGH
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 4.3:218–224
The need for an open independent inquiry into the genocide of Sikhs should be the most important demand for Sikhs in this 30th anniversary year of the Indian government’s planned massacre of Sikhs in 1984. We now have a better than ever opportunity to make this important Sikh demand a reality for the following reasons:
* The revelation of the then UK government’s involvement places a moral obligation on the present government to make amends by giving a measure of support for an independent inquiry, on the same lines as it is calling for a UN led inquiry into the massacre of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
* The centenary commemorations of the start of the Great War (1914-18) give an added reason to remind the UK government that 83,000 Sikhs gave their lives in the two World Wars, strengthening our demand for reciprocation of support.
* Wikileaks documents now available provide US confirmation that more Sikhs were killed in just 3 days in India than in the 17 years of General Pinochet’s widely condemned cruel and arbitrary rule in Chile.
* India has a General Election in May 2014. Two of the three main political parties have said they support an independent inquiry into the events of 1984 and Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress Party, has publicly admitted that some Congress party members were involved.
* PM Manmohan Singh is also on record as speaking in the Indian Parliament on the genocide of 84 of ‘questions ‘still unanswered’.
* A General Election is to be held in the UK next year. There are sizable Sikh populations in many marginal seats and we can make it clear to political parties that Sikhs expect support for Sikh human rights.
If we ignore this real opportunity, we will -- as Shakespeare observes -- ‘lose our venture.’ This unusual combination of political developments will not occur again.
UK Sikhs will be betraying the families of those who lost their lives in the genocide of Sikhs if we fail to make the need for an open inquiry the single- minded focus, to the exclusion of all side issues (including a time-wasting inquiry into the minutiae of British government involvement which could take years without getting us any further).
HIGHLIGHTING OUR DEMAND FOR AN INTERNATIONAL UNITED NATIONS LED INQUIRY
My position in England’s House of Lords gives me a unique opportunity to constantly press politicians on this important issue, and with NSO (The Network of Sikh Organizations) support I have done this on four separate occasions.
Recently, I met the then Cabinet Secretary, Lord Butler, to try to get his support, and am planning to ask a written question to Baroness Warsi as a follow up to the debate.
It will not be easy but I will continue trying. One of the difficulties is the game of divide and rule, with the government saying other Sikhs are not necessarily backing the NSO demand. It is important to show Sikhs are united on this issue.
NEED FOR STRATEGIC THINKING
It is a matter of concern that although we are now fast approaching the June anniversary, and that May will see important elections in India, the Sikh Council appears to have no clear policy on what needs to be done. This has been admitted in recent email correspondence in which the Council asked the NSO for information on ten questions relating to background information so that they can begin consultations with constituent members.
Even more worrying, the Sikh Federation faction of the Council is actively seeking to divert attention and destroy momentum with a demand for a time wasting, judge led inquiry into British involvement that could take months, if not years without getting us any further!
In what many consider a historic House of Lords Debate on Monday, March 3, 2014, I said all we want from the UK government is its backing for an International UN led inquiry into the 1984 genocide, on the same lines that Her Majesty’s Government is supporting the need for a UN inquiry into human rights abuses against the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
I believe that the stance of the Federation faction of the Sikh Council in pursuing minutiae of UK involvement could prove counter-productive in alienating the UK government at a time when we need its support.
[Edited for sikhchic.com]
March 14, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Harinder Pal Singh (Punjab), March 14, 2014, 3:25 PM.
Sikhs must not lose good friends for someone may be trying to break our bond to weaken us.
2: Gurjeet Singh (Leicester, United Kingdom), March 14, 2014, 6:50 PM.
The Sikh Federation (UK) agrees a UN-led independent inquiry into the Genocide of Sikhs is one of the most important demands for Sikhs in this 30th anniversary year of the Indian government massacre of Sikhs in 1984. We also agree it is important to show Sikhs are united.
3: Kaala Singh (Punjab), March 14, 2014, 11:36 PM.
Only an international inquiry will yield something. Indian Govt. appointed commissions have been a farce. It is interesting to see that a country incapable of providing security to its own citizens in its capital city who are massacred in their thousands, demands a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, merely on the basis of its numbers and out-of-control population!
4: Gurmukh Singh (London, United Kingdom), March 15, 2014, 12:39 AM.
My impression is that the Sikh Council UK continues to be very openly supportive of an international inquiry as a parallel action to an independent inquiry in the UK.
5: Kaala Singh (Punjab), March 15, 2014, 11:16 AM.
While inquiries are welcome, they will not bring back our people who died such horrible deaths. My point is that Sikhs should strive to become a force to reckon with rather than begging for inquiries from those very regimes who murdered us for selfish gains.
6: Dr Birinder Singh Ahluwalia (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), March 19, 2014, 8:56 AM.
A demand for two MORE inquiries when not even one from the previous dozens has been consummated? Local inquiry(ies) into the involvement of other countries in the 1984 saga will be, to some extent, less consequential in many respects than conducting an impartial international inquiry to find the entire truth in the matter. Mind you, that independent international inquiry can easily include, extend and exercise its mandate to explore and delineate involvement of (other) foreign countries in the 1984 saga whereas local UK inquiry will not and cannot have such a mandate. I request the Sikhs of UK to be pragmatic in their approach re this significant issue and adopt the path that brings wide ranging results in the matter rather than concentrating on local/national inquiries which will be tubular and periscopal in producing any meaningful results.